Babies! Yay - Page 3 - Pigeon-Talk

Siam Sam · #1 14th September 2009, 09:23 PM

Squab photos, please.

malfunctional · #2 14th September 2009, 11:48 PM

Squab photos as requested. Unfortunately my camera is not at all good for close up shots.

When I got up this morning there were no pigeons, not even Mom on the nest. She returned a little later with this little guy. As I was watching he wasn't brave enough to venture down to the balcony, but he figured out the raised food dish in no time. The photo also nicely shows how I've set up the dish on the balcony rail so that Bangers and Abby can eat without Dad chasing them away. It is a yoghurt container that I've put a false bottom on (so I don't have to fill the whole thing with seeds).

He's much smarter than his 7 month older brother who took a few days to figure out this container. Bangers arrived shortly after and tried to chase him away as you can see. Poor picture quality, but it does allow you to see the relative differences in size.

malfunctional · #3 15th September 2009, 03:07 AM

Dad is struggling to maintain his turf. A big pigeon arrived today. One that I've seen a few times and chased off. Today he was on the floor right in front of Dad and Dad was doing nothing, but clearly annoyed. Maybe Dad doesn't think he can win with this guy. In the end I decided to chase him away and give Dad some peace, but Dad followed him and didn't come back. Sure enough, he had gone to find Mom just like on Friday. It's a little sad when you have to call your wife in to fight your battles.

malfunctional · #4 16th September 2009, 12:20 AM

Family reunion this morning. Everyone present except Mash. Dad was here with the little one from the last batch. I'm going to call him Ben. Then Abby was eating from the raised food tray and Bangers arrived shortly after. Their babies are obviously old enough to be left on their own now. (11 days is my guess.)

It made for a wonderful picture, Dad, Ben, Bangers and Abby all perched next to each other on the balcony and Mom hidden away on the nest below. Unfortunately I spooked them and they were all off before I got a chance.

So interestingly it always seems to be the same squab that Mom and Dad bring home. I wonder if only one of them survived from the last batch. I think that that might be the reason they decided to change nests back to my place. We'll see. Hopefully there are two fertile eggs under Mom.

Siam Sam · #5 16th September 2009, 08:19 PM

That container you rigged up is great!

malfunctional · #6 18th September 2009, 12:44 AM

Thanks

Loads of activity on the pigeon front. Bangers and Abby are well and truly back together now that baby looking after is not a full time job. Ben is visiting all the time for food too. He always arrives with Dad and they eat together. It's nice to see the after leaving the nest side of growing up. Dad has shown him how to eat and they eat together quite happily. Dad still chases Bangers and Abby away. I wonder at what age he'll start chasing Ben away.

Some bad news from my side. I'm away on business for 3 weeks from Sunday, the day the first egg is due to hatch, so I'm going to miss pretty much the eggs whole childhood. They'll already be running around causing havoc on the balcony before I get back.

malfunctional · #7 21st September 2009, 02:30 PM

Sunday morning before I left, there were cracks in both of the eggs. Little star shaped cracks like the babies were pecking their way out. The wife is giving is giving me reports so I'll try to keep relaying info from the other side of the world.

Both babies hatched while I was flying. I only missed them by a few hours. The Missus reports that they hatched in the night between 10pm and 7pm, so that is 18 days and a about 5 hours for the one egg and only 16 days and about 8 hours for the other. I think 16 days is pretty quick! Both babies are looking healthy.